On This Day: President Barack Obama passes staff from the White House Military Office as he jogs along the Colonnade of the White House following an event that ran late, March 1, 2011. The military personnel and their families were lined up to take departure pictures with the President in the Oval Office (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama is truly the People’s President. I don’t recall ANY previous President who has had the level of interaction with citizens from all walks of life throughout the country and who has opened the White House to celebrate the achievements of not only the renown, but the lesser known and the aspiring as POTUS and FLOTUS has done.

His is also the only administration that has put children and families front and center in policy and practice. You would think that previous presidents, especially in the modern era, did not have children and did not know any. For all of their talk of family values, none of their actions reflected it. Here is PBO, the man who was raised without a father, one who, he freely admits, made the youthful mistakes that could have led to a dark future, who is showing all what it means to be a family man and to be truly, the Father of the Nation.

Delurking to say Good Morning to Ms Chips, Nerdy Wonka, and all the TODERS from, dare I say, hot and sunny Trinidad. Just recovering from the birthday yesterday and taking my endurance pills for this long weekend of Carnival bacchanalia in Trinidad and Tobago, as the partying is fast and furious for the remaining 4 days before Ash Wednesday, when we all take some r and r and head to the beach. Whew!
Soca Monarch was last night, Kiddies and Junior Carnival today, as well as Pan finals tonight, Sunday – Dimanche Gras and then to the opening J’Ouvert 4.00.am followed by mucho costumed bands of 3000 people wailing and freeing up Monday and Tuesday. Whew!
A few well- knowns are in for the fun…Usain Bolt, Daman Waynan, Anthony Anderson etc.
Cheers…and have a fantabulous today.

Is it for real that the US is saying summer arrives next weekend and are starting Daylight Saving Time? Someone mentioned it recently & I’m finding it somewhat difficult to believe. Why would it be so early?

I thought on TOD but maybe I misread – seemed early – I live in a state that doesn’t have daylight time (for which I am most grateful) so I don’t know a lot about when it stop/starts in my world – let alone the Northern part of the world.

99ts, they cannot change or affect the equinox or solstice movements, those are set firmly in place by the order of the universe (at least the solar system!) but there is a gradual shifting towards eliminating daylight saving, as we are no longer considered an ‘agricultural’ economy, where the crops had to be managed with as much use of daylight hours as possible. More and more it is considered a nuisance by many. I, for one, won’t miss it. I believe in Canada, Manitoba is one province which chooses not to observe, and in Australia, Queensland has always done its own thing, if I remember rightly.

Can’t believe the “interesting” fam story I heard for the first time last night—–happened years ago, but still—-. Mr. dotster’s cousin is a smartypants, goes to Princeton, soon after arrival notices there is a girl in his freshman class with the same unusual last name with the same unusual spelling, calls her because he is interested in where she’s from, her background etc., introduces himself, and she says, “Hey, that’s my dad’s name!” And he says, “That’s my dad’s name too!” So they make a coffee date to discuss some more, she brings a couple of fam photos, AND—-he notices her dad is his dad! Small world! “OMG—Hi sister!” (half sister) And so—his mom was pretty surprised when he told her about his coffee date, and it unravels from there, but unbelievable. I asked mr. dotster why he never shared this very unusual tale with me, said he was in high school at the time, was more interested in friends and football, barely paid attention to it, never thought about it until another relative mentioned it last night. What??? And he talks all the time about everything known to man, to the point where I have to finally say “Shhhhhhhhhh”. But he never tells me about this unbelievable thing? Mr. dotster is weird. :)

No one knew about it—-a separate life/fam that no one knew about—one fam in Wi., one in Illinois. What I couldn’t believe was that he sent both of his kids to Princeton—or dad’s secret may have remained a secret forever.

John McCain is already attacking the President. I guess he want the President to say we will attack Russia if they do this or do that. McCain and those right wing war lovers wants the U.S. in another war so bad.

Weekend is here!! Happy Saturday…Happy March! I don’t know about you, but when I lived in a snowy place…the sound of “March” just sounded MUCH better to me than February…like spring was near and those crocus’ would be peaking out soon and the world would come back to life again…..hold on, it’s coming!

LadyJazz….I’m tired just reading the itinerary! Carnival is so much fun though…sure you’ll laugh, dance, eat and revel in all the festivities that make this time of year so much fun. I remember those days from a kid in St Thomas growing up….lots of fun…best fried chicken I ever ate…I’d kill to have that chicken again:)

Raining here today…we need the rain so this is good. Life takes on a different pace in the rain….its good.

Waiting to see when the fireworks happen for 24 million mark..(OMG…that’s a BIG family, Chips!) We’ll be ready to party, whenever that time comes!

Oh no—-rain. Good for you, bad for my daughter and friends who are out there in your neck o’ the woods, at the Firesky?—-their annual trek to Cubs opening of training camp, an excuse to escape the horror of Illinois winter by a bunch of long suffering Cubs fans. Noticed they were having some fun at a wine bar last night tho, so maybe they won’t even notice. :)

Rand is perhaps the only virulently anti-Christian writer that Republicans nonetheless routinely feel comfortable heaping praise upon. In a charming 1964 interview with Playboy, Rand described the crucifixion of Jesus in terms of “mythology,” and submitted that she would feel “indignant” over such a “sacrifice of virtue to vice.” That Christians are called to care for the most vulnerable of God’s people was, to Rand, manifest proof that the religion has nothing constructive to add to human life: After all, in her philosophy, “superiors” have no moral obligations to those weaker or more vulnerable than they. According to Rand, the Christian moral imperative to serve the needy is a “monstrous idea.”

In a surprising jolt of coherence, Rand held precisely the position such a disdain for Christian humility would suggest: that the strong are the rightful lords over the weak, and that those with the capabilities to secure wealth and resources should be more or less unimpeded from doing so, the rest of humankind be damned. It’s likely this philosophical tenet that wins her so many fans on the right, among them Paul Ryan, Clarence Thomas, Gary Johnson and Rand Paul.

No Mr. Yglesias, it sound like something you do when you have a heart that care about helping someone beside the rich folks. When President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama talk about not being were they are without the help of others, when they talk about wanting to reach back and help others, give them a chance to make it, it is not just talk. They care about people. Something you Mr. Yglesias don’t know nothing about.

This part of the world is so volatile…..so many different ethnic and religious interests. I think meta is correct…..Putin doesn’t seem to have any idea what he is doing. The Tsars tried to subdue and control these various groups for hundreds of years, then Stalin and group came along and tried the same things.

Seems to me Putin is trying to re-create the empires of the Tsars and/or the old USSR. He wants to rule the world, as much as possible. The Crimea has always been important to Russia. It is their Riviera, and their warm water port. They will fight for this area, I’m sure. When Moscow is frozen solid, the Russian leaders can escape to Crimea and enjoy beautiful, almost tropical surroundings.

If any of you saw the old film Nicholas and Alexandra, back in the 70s! there are scenes of their family in the Crimea where it is beautiful and sunny, while the rest of the country is stark, cold, snowy and dark. The Russians just seem to exchange one tyrant for another one throughout their history. The two Russian history courses I took were the darkest, most depressing of any.

I know PBO and his advisers are totally cognizant of the historical patterns in this region, and will be circumspect in the face of all sorts of pressure to shoot from the hip……McCain and GWB’s pattern of operating. As we’ve all said, THANK GOD PBO IS PRESIDENT!

the fun has drained out of the game. So has the substance. I used to get excited about the big issues we covered — civil rights, women’s liberation, the fate of the country’s great cities, the end of the Cold War. I loved the politicians who brought those issues to life, from Everett McKinley Dirksen and Howard Baker (Dirksen’s son-in-law, curiously) to Russell B. Long and Edmund Muskie, from Bob Dole to George Mitchell — all people who knew and cared a great deal about governing. Watching them at work was exhilarating. Watching their successors, today’s senators and representatives, is just depressing.

I realized just how depressing last October, when Congress voted on legislation that would raise the debt ceiling — allowing the Treasury to pay the debts Congress had already incurred — and keep the government open. This was exciting, but perversely so. On Oct. 16, 162 members of Congress, 144 in the House and 18 in the Senate, voted “no,” votes meant explicitly to drive their government into bankruptcy, when there was a real chance that their view might prevail. Here was an entirely new style of public service, and it turned my stomach.